The United States announced on Tuesday the lifting of some of its economic sanctions against Venezuela, among them the permission to the American oil company Chevron to negotiate with the state-owned PDVSA, to try to reactivate the dialogue between the opposition and the Government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
“I want to clarify that the Government does this in response to the talks that are taking place between the regime and the Government interim (by Juan Guaidó)”, explained this Tuesday a high-level official of the US Administration, who requested anonymity, during a call with journalists.
“All this responds to a request from the interim government,” the US side emphasized, “and is the result of an agreement by both parties to return to talks, which should be announced very soon.”
The talks that the Venezuelan opposition –grouped under the name of the Unitarian Platform– and the government of the president, Nicolás Maduro, were having in Mexico City were suspended in October last year after the extradition to Venezuela of the alleged figurehead of Maduro, Alex Saab .
On the lifting of the ban on trading between Chevron and PDVSA, the official clarified that the decision allows both oil companies to “talk”, but not in case you exploit or trade with Venezuelan crude, so it will not mean “any increase in the regime’s income.”
The source also pointed out that the announcement is completely unrelated to the controversy over the announcement by the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, that he will not attend the Summit of the Americas if the United States does not invite Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to participate.
On Monday, the Biden Administration announced another change in position regarding one of these three countries by allowing the reactivation of all commercial flights between the country and Cuba, many of which had been suspended during the Donald Trump administration (2017-2021).
The Summit of the Americas will be held in Los Angeles (California) from June 6 to 10, the first time it has been hosted by the United States since the 1994 edition.